Most cryptocurrencies gained ground on Wednesday as demand resumes on high-risk assets, with ripple expanding its gains to become the third highest cryptocurrency in market value after bitcoin and ethereum. 

The Federal Reserve voted to maintain interest rates unchanged today at below 4.5%.

Fed officials said the US economy is growing strongly, and lauded the labor market as unemployment falls. 

However, the Fed still sees inflation as still high, asserting the ongoing goal of bringing inflation towards 2% in the long term.

Fed officials also revised their forecasts on interest rates and other economic indicators until 2027.

Fed’s growth forecasts for 2025 fell to 1.7% from 2.1% in previous forecasts, while the Fed expects core prices to rise by 2.8% this year, up 0.3% from previous forecasts.

The Fed still expects two interest rate cuts in 2026, and another cut in 2027, bringing long-term interest rates at around 3%.

Ripple is strongly buoyed by increasing demand and usage by banking services and cross-border money transfer companies.

Ripple

Ripple rallied 11% on Coinmarketcap as of 20:40 GMT to $2.49, with total market value rising to $145.2 billion.

Gold prices rose on Wednesday and hit yet another record high, while the dollar eked out gains against major rivals. 

The Federal Reserve voted to maintain interest rates unchanged today at below 4.5%.

Fed officials said the US economy is growing strongly, and lauded the labor market as unemployment falls. 

However, the Fed still sees inflation as still high, asserting the ongoing goal of bringing inflation towards 2% in the long term.

Fed officials also revised their forecasts on interest rates and other economic indicators until 2027.

Fed’s growth forecasts for 2025 fell to 1.7% from 2.1% in previous forecasts, while the Fed expects core prices to rise by 2.8% this year, up 0.3% from previous forecasts.

The Fed still expects two interest rate cuts in 2026, and another cut in 2027, bringing long-term interest rates at around 3%.

Otherwise, the dollar index rose 0.3% as of 19:45 GMT to 103.5, with a session-high at 103.9, and a low at 103.2.

On trading, gold spot prices rose 0.5% as of 19:46 GMT to $3055.3 an ounce.

The Federal Reserve voted to hold interest rates unchanged as widely expected by analysts. 

The Energy Information Administration reported a buildup of 1.7 million barrels in US crude stocks last week to 437 million barrels, while analysts expected a buildup of 0.5 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks fell 0.5 million barrels to 240.6 million barrels, as distillate stocks fell 2.8 million barrels to 114.8 million barrels.